With technology advancing every day, people and businesses are using social networking sites more and more because it allows them to stay connected to prospects, clients, and leads. With this being said many people and businesses are frustrated and overwhelmed with the hours they spend managing all their profiles. What happens many times is they stop completely and it damages their image a bit. Are you one of these individuals or businesses?  The great thing is that there is a solution!

Have you heard of a Social Media Manager?  Their role within social media marketing is one that allows the manager to manage several social networking brand profile pages for you or your company so that you have an active profile page on all of the popular social networking sites. It’s important that you have an active profile on the social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Expanding a company’s brand image using social networking sites is a great way to really market your products and or services.

A dedicated Social Media Manager will be able to create from scratch all of your profiles and also create marketing campaigns that co inside and compliment any of your offline promotions and advertizing. Visual stimulation has been shown to create longing and it is this fact that Social Media Managers use to increase your brand’s power and influence in the current market. It will allow you to create a huge gap between you and your competition. By making your more accessible in this manner you are able to show your clients and prospective clients that you are available to them whenever they need you or think of you. You become another “friend” on their list, you are able to post information, answer questions and create interest without having to worry about a thing. As you can see a Social Media Manager can add great value to your team of experts by helping you with some of the daily tasks need for your online presence.

Online Advertising for Your Small Business

When we are entering into the business world whether it is online or brick & Mortar, we struggle with finding the right approach to reach our customers or target audience. Learning new and innovative ways to improve our internet marketing or online advertising is a challenge to say the least. But there are several basic steps you can take to increase the traffic to your website which will assist with improving sales. Focusing on the conversion rate and improving the website will help get the order average up. Below are some internet marketing online advertising tips to help you get off to a good start:

Email Marketing- Learning how to complete an efficient email marketing campaign can save you both time and money. Using landing pages to capture email addresses of your potential prospects can help you build an email-marketing list. This frequently takes a bit of time. But is well worth it if it is done right.

Newsletter Campaigns- Newsletters are not only a good way to market but they are a great way to start your list building efforts. Newsletters can provide your customers with new product information and you can include ads for services that your company provides. Finding someone to design your newsletter can be relatively cheap and this single effort may bring in large amounts of revenue for your company. Customers love to read about services, provide relevant up to date business news and your list continue to grow.

Direct Mailing- While direct mailing seems a thing of the past sending out an occasional post card message may be a great way still to bring in new consumers. This method is targeted towards your local area but it can still bring in a good amount of revenue. In your cards be sure to let them know of current events, sales your planning or even send a coupon or two to peak your customers interest.

Social Networking- Now lets tie in the Social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. These platforms can be beneficial for internet marketing and online advertising for small businesses. The best part about running a social networking campaign is that its low cost and you can   generated a lot of traffic if it is done right.  This is a terrific way to build your brand!

When working on building your business/brand through internet marketing and online advertising you should always remember the more you give the customer the more it draws them in. A great way to WOW them is by providing free gifts that they receive with their order. This approach can generate lots of re-occurring business for your company. The internet is still growing and each year there are more and more ways for small businesses to become the expert in their niche.

When owning your own business you have a vast amount of responsibility. You are responsible for ensuring your employees have good working conditions, you need to be increasing your revenue, and most importantly you need to continue to give your customers what they need and want. However without a good marketing plan often times companies loss too much money and are not able to recover. So how can we ensure that this doesn’t happen to your small business?

SEO- Search Engine Optimization is a big one. If you are starting your company or even have an existing company you should familiarize yourself with SEO. The key with SEO or Search Engine Optimization is using the right keywords for your business. Using the wrong keywords can cost you money. Sometimes at a very rapid rate! The truth is your keywords should be optimal for your product or service. You can use Google to assist you in determining what keywords are most specific to your product/service and which keywords are most popular. This will give you a better placement in the page rankings which may help to boost traffic to your website.

Pay-Per Click- There are some people that feel this is not effective enough, and if you have a small budget it may not achieve your desired result. When deciding your keywords you should look at popularity and pay-per click pricing. Some of the more popular keywords will cost more money per click. This can use up your budget quite quickly leaving you with less traffic and less sales for your product/services. However if you pick a more specific keyword it may help to narrow in on your target audience. This will not only save you money but it will also target only those who are interested in purchasing what you have to offer.  You have to be careful when using PPC ads if you new to this form of advertising.

Using Link Building to Generate more traffic- This is an important step because linking gets more people to your website in turn can assist with more sales being made. When you are looking to do web marketing promotions you have to let people know about your website, and link building does just that. Additionally the major search engines will pick up the URL of the websites that are most popular. These websites then get placed on the front pages. On average most people will only look through the first couple pages of the search results. So it’s your job to get within the top 20-30 results for your keyword.

Traffic generation and web marketing promotions are all based on numbers. The more people you can get to your website the more chance you have of getting your product/service sold. Which is important for any small business. After all if no one knows you there, how can they purchase your goods or services?

Video marketing can be used to host a live webinar online for your customers. A webinar is a presentation where you talk and teach and then open up the floor for questions or feedback from the viewers.

Of course you could invest in an expensive system that’s private or use a free webinar tool like Ustream to get the job done. Hosting a webinar online using video lets you brand yourself as a true expert with nothing to hide.

It’s very easy to sign up with minimal information. Then you click Create a Show. You’ll give it a name so that your subscribers can easily find it on the Ustream website. You can save the show for a later date that you schedule or broadcast it immediately.

Once you name your show, it’ll give you the option to add customized details, like a logo for the show. You’ll choose a category and enter tags (keywords) that are relevant to your topic. And you’ll give a brief description of your webinar show.

You can choose which previous clips get saved on the site for others to watch. You can enable or disable comments, enable chatting during the webinar, and appoint moderators to oversee the discussion.

You can even choose to present your webinar with a co-host if you have an available expert you’d like to help field questions or deliver the hot topics to your viewing audience.

Once finished, you’ll be given proper links and codes to promote the event and share it with others. Before you schedule it, make sure it’s at a time when you can have the most viewers.

Have a plan in place as to how you’ll present the information. You want it to be structured, but maybe not as rigid if you enable chatting where you’ll be responding during the presentation.

Some viewers will prefer that you deliver the presentation first and let people chime in afterwards, so that they can see the whole topic unfold and then leave if they want when the discussion opens up.

And perhaps the most important tip that can be shared with you is this – don’t sell, share. A webinar video event isn’t where you hard sell to an audience. It’s where you provide great value and showcase your expertise and then follow up the presentation with a call to action that serves your bottom line.

Have you been hearing all the buzz about Video Affiliate Marketing? It’s been a HOT topic and many internet marketers are using this to increase their profits.  So Laura Rubinstein decided it was time to talk to someone that has done Video Affiliate Marketing.  We interviewed Pam Brossman of Social Media Women and our webinar was jam packed with great tips and how to’s.  Here are some of the questions that we asked Pam:

Why should we be using Video in our Business? One of the main reasons is because places like YouTube have become the most watched medium online and people really feel connected because they can watch your body language and see the true passion in your eyes.  Online Video gives a total different dimension compared to reading print.  Want to learn more about Video Affiliate Marketing go HERE.

What kind of recommendations do you have for someone who is a little camera shy?  If you are camera shy it maybe a bit of an excuse because you can create videos using PowerPoint, screen capture videos, Animoto and lets not forget OneTrueMedia.  These are just a few of the resources that we recommend for getting started.

So what is Video Affiliate Marketing anyways?  Affiliate Marketing is the ability to sell other peoples products and if someone purchases you get an affiliate commission.  Most business love this arrangement because it gives them an army of people that are advertising for them for a fee which is a commission.  Commissions can be from 25-75% they can be any range but kind of standard practice is 50% but this really depends.  Now Video Affiliate Marketing is when someone wants to use video to market your businesses products to receive a commission.

What types of businesses can benefit from affiliate marketing? Almost any business can benefit from affiliate marketing whether it be joint ventures with another company or just people promoting your products to their own list for a % of the sale.

If you interested in hearing the recorded call with Pam Brossman go listen now….only available through Monday its 90 minutes go to Conscious Social.

If you own a business and have a website, then you’ve likely considered video marketing. Once you learn and are determined to implement video, the next step is to decide how to use videos to promote your business. Here are just a few examples:

1. Testimonials – Ask your customers or clients to give you quick 1-minute videos of their feedback. You can also interview them about your business for a more structured testimonial.

2. Product Demos – One of the biggest drawbacks to buying online is that you can’t actually test the product. Bypass that objection and demonstrate your product on video to help increase sales.

3. Case Studies – If you’re involved in some kind of before-and-after (website design, fitness, SEO, etc.) case studies are an excellent way to demonstrate your expertise. Seeing an example helps the potential customer understand exactly what impact your service or product can have on their business.

4. Product Reviews– Video brings an added element to product reviews, particularly if you’re reviewing a physical product. But hearing you talk about a book or piece of software is effective too.

5. Education – Use video to educate your market on the use of your products. Lead them towards the sale by answering their most frequently asked questions and objections.

6. Entertainment – People love to be entertained! If you can entertain in your video and combine that with a call to action, you’ll have a winning combination.

7. Webinars – If you provide webinars or other video presentations to your market, capture them via video and offer a replay to generate leads or even sell as a product.

8. Commercial – Done correctly (meaning compelling with a clear call to action), commercials for your product or service can be very effective.

9. Business Overview – One of the first things many people look for is who they are buying from and what they stand for. Let your potential customers learn about you and your business through a business overview.

As you can see from the list above, there are many ways to use video to promote your business. Just creating video is not the only step to effective marketing. You must craft a video that responds to the wants and needs of your market. They are looking for solutions to problems and questions. It’s your job to figure out how to use a video to solve issues, answer questions, provide the right solutions and lead them to the next step.

Video marketing isn’t for everyone. And there’s nothing in the rulebook that says you have to become proficient in every aspect of your online marketing endeavors. Some things you can outsource – to pros who do enjoy and excel at that task!

But how do you outsource video marketing? You can probably do the pre-planning stage on your own. This is where you gather your information and map out a plan. For example, you’ll want to flesh out who your target audience is, what should go into the presentation to suit their needs, and what information you’ll use to meet those needs.

You may even go so far as to create a storyboard for the video producer to show what will go into each “scene” – meaning sections of information within the video tutorial.

You’ll probably want to outsource the production phase or the editing phase of your project. The production phase is where the recording takes place. If you don’t feel confident with the production, then it won’t turn out very professional, so if you take the do it yourself route, make sure you practice and watch the video back to see how the results look.

Outsourcing the editing of your video production can also be a timesaver. Sometimes, even the most confident video marketers slip up or need a good polishing on their video piece – and a professional editor can add theme music to the introduction, edit out any mistakes, clean up the audio files that accompany the screen and make the whole video run more smoothly.

Once you decide what it is you want to outsource, you’ll need to know who to hire for the job. You don’t want to trust anyone claiming to have video editing skills – because that can vary.

First, head to an online freelance marketplace such as Elance. There, you can find affordable freelance video professionals who are building a brand name on the ‘net. If you want to ensure an even more professional deliverable, then you might contact some local college students in the TV production field. Ask to speak to the professor and he can put you in touch with someone who has the skills that you need.

Another good place to look is at your local TV news stations – many of the technical crew members moonlight for extra money, and you’ll get a high grade professional video for a fraction of what it would cost you to outsource to a business entity.

No matter who you hire to produce and/or edit your videos, make sure you check references and feedback and watch a demo sample of their abilities, making sure you ask if they had help or created it all themselves.

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The internet has made a huge impact on a lot of small businesses. The internet allows you to reach a much larger audience than was possible in the past. Without the internet video marketing would not be nearly as effective as it is today. Video sharing sites like YouTube make it easy to reach an even larger audience.

If you post a great video to the many video-sharing sites, an individual or business can turn into a success virtually overnight. Chances are the videos that you make will not be in the top ten videos on YouTube.  However, there are still a ton of benefits to creating and marketing videos. Small businesses can greatly benefit from this marketing strategy.

As a small business owner it can be difficult to compete with the larger companies. Larger companies often have lower prices and are more widely available. By no means does that mean your small business cannot be a success.
When you create a video and post it online, it gives you a voice. Anyone (and everyone) can throw words onto a page (or pay someone to do it for them). Simple articles can be effective for marketing. Those same articles can however have a greater impact. If you pair a useful, informative article with a great video, you can make a huge impact.

When people watch a video they are able to connect with you. You can write about your great product and why everyone needs to own it. However, if you show people your product in action, you will likely get greater results. People tend to believe things that they can see with their own two eyes compared to just reading information.

You can create a video that people can view today, next month, or even two years from now. It may take quite a bit of time and effort now, but the results will be worth it. People like doing business with someone they find to be trustworthy. A simple video can allow the potential customer viewing it to see you and grow to trust you. A picture is truly worth a thousand words.

If you are having a hard time coming up with ideas for your marketing video, you are not alone. This can be the most challenging part. One great idea is customer testimonials. If you are selling a product, have the video include a customer using your product to showcase it. You can also introduce your office and employees, demonstrate your product, share what makes you unique, or anything else you can imagine. The point of the videos is for you to connect with potential customers. Use your imagination.

You should always incorporate multiple strategies into your marketing campaign. Do not overlook the power of a video, but don’t rely on that to be your only form of marketing. Marketing should be done in various ways to draw as much attention to your business as possible.

Keep a close eye on all of the data. You want to be able to figure out which forms of marketing are the most effective for your small business. Spending money on an advertisement that isn’t bringing you results is a waste of both your time and money. You should use video as one of your effective forms of marketing.

Untitled from Karriann Graf on Vimeo.

I wanted to share this short video on Exceeding YOUR Customers Expectations because its harder and more expensive to earn new customers than it is to take care of the customers that are already raving fans.

What could you do to exceed your customers expectations?  Make comments so we can all learn.

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There are plenty of advantages to becoming an online entrepreneur. You’re in control of your own business, and you get to decide when and how you’re going to work. You have the opportunity to enjoy growing your business and to successfully maximize your earning power without being at mercy of a boss or time clock. Your success is all up to you, and for many people that’s a very empowering and freeing concept.

But there are some possible disadvantages or problems that you can encounter as an online entrepreneur too, and the Internet can be a dangerous place to do business. You can lose control of your computer, your email programs and even your own identity if you’re not careful and vigilant.

You’ve probably heard all of the hype about protecting your computer from spam and being careful about phishing scams. You’ve heard that you have to be careful to protect your computer from having viruses, malware or spyware installed on it.

Of course you wouldn’t install this stuff yourself. But there are those out there that will if they get a chance, turning your computer into a part of a botnet (also known as zombie army). And you could even have your own personal information stolen.

Look at this example: You have a website or blog that invites comments, or gives your contact email address. You get emails or comments from people who say they’ve seen your site and like it and want to chat with you.

They usually add a comment like, “Hey, stop by my site (link attached) for a chat.” You head to their site, partly out of curiosity and partly because you’re flattered that someone wants to chat about business with you, and BAM! You’re visiting a porno site! And it’s installing malware on your computer!

There are lots of scammy marketers who are out there and who are willing to mislead you into visiting their links. Their whole purpose is to infect your computer with malware so they can start using it to send out their own spam emails. Or so they can gain access to your information.

Here’s what you need to do: First, learn to recognize a spam comment or email vs. a legitimate one. Spammers will almost always use canned comments – something like, “I’ve enjoyed reading your blog. Feel free to visit my site here (with a link).”

A legitimate comment will be more detailed and personal. It might sound something like, “I read your article titled Five Ways to Boost Your MLM Results and loved it—especially point #4. I am still learning the ropes, and find your blog posts really interesting. Thanks!”

Be careful about who you interact with. If you suspect something fishy (or phishy), turn tail and run! Also make sure you have up to date virus, spyware and malware protection on your computer, and use a firewall if possible. When you’re not using your computer, close your browser. And check your outgoing or sent emails now and then to make sure someone hasn’t pirated your email. Change all passwords frequently, too.

If you think your computer’s been hacked, immediately disconnect from the Internet and scan your computer for malware and viruses. You can report unauthorized access to your computer to your ISP and to the FBI at www.ic3.gov.

Being an Internet entrepreneur is an exciting, fun, challenging and rewarding career choice. Be sure you protect yourself, your computer and your business by using all precautions available!